It’s been another bumper season for UK pantomime with many venues reporting record sales and a rise in adult-only performances increasing revenue in the quieter January weeks of the professional pantomime season.
Once my shows are up and running, I love to watch friends and top practitioners across the country to be inspired for the year ahead. Pantomime is an art form which both honours tradition and innovation, to see genuine innovation is always a joy.
Not everyone has the time (or indeed inclination) to go and watch pantomimes once theirs is finished, or in preparation for one. So I wanted to report some of my favourite moments from productions I saw over the 2025/26 season.
I hope these moments provide inspiration for directors and producers staging amateur pantomimes across the country.
Beauty and the Beast: A Horny Love Story – Charing Cross Theatre – by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper.
He’s Behind You specialise in adult pantos aimed at an inclusive LGBTQ+ audience in London. Having outgrown smaller fringe venues, their move to the heart of the West End a couple of years ago has proven fruitful with a successful Christmas season each year since.
The shows are distinctly traditional pantomimes, but the gags, themes and stories are aimed at adults rather than families. The dame in this year’s production ran a petrol station in the Scottish highlands. A punny sign post in the preset read “Lichmanochers” right and “Suckmacoch” left. My personal favourite UK place name is a weather station in Northern Ireland named ‘Ballywhatticock’ but that’s a whole other story.
It’s hard to pick a favourite moment from this year’s show, but the Village People inspired number in which pink-jumpsuit-wearing oil rig workers danced on a precarious rig in the middle of the ocean has got to be up there.
If you’re interested in getting a sense of what Jon and Martin create but can’t make it to London, a number of their previous shows are published and available to order online.
Robin Hood – Cheltenham Everyman – by Samuel Holmes
This script by panto veteran Samuel Holmes rides delightfully near the knuckle with resident dame Kevin Brewis evened out by the brilliantly child-friendly (mostly!) Tweedy the Clown as Friar ‘Tweedy’ Tuck.
Featuring an original set and costume design every year, this show holds its own against some of the biggest commercial pantos in the country in terms of production value. Not least thanks to Nick Winston’s stellar choreography and a talented ensemble.
The gloriously camp Kane Verrall as Will Scarlet has great chemistry with Dan Wilshire’s titular Robin Hood, and they get some fantastic numbers to show off their musical theatre vocals.
The most spectacular part of the show is undoubtedly the end of act one song which used ‘Skyfall’ as ‘Snowfall’ where Lizzie Bea’s wicked Sheriff of Gloucestershire (sibling to the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham) casts a winter spell across the land and snow machines cover the auditorium and stage with flurries of magical snow.
Dick Whittington – Derby Arena – by Morgan Brind
Morgan’s scripts are always an intricate comic joy to watch, but at Derby Arena you get the double pleasure of seeing him as Dame. Everyone’s favourite aunt, his dame has a warm glint in her eye, and a witty retort in her pocket.
This year: a brilliant twist on Dick Whittington, complete with a Lord Mayor dream sequence set to ‘Ordinary’ by Alex Warren, a brilliant original song by Dave Culling as the ship sets sail at the end of act one, and an original take on the rocking galley in act two.
A fun mechanic involving Queen Rat (the ever brilliant Wendi Peters) and the periodic table ensures we end the journey with no doubt that hopeful times are ahead of us.
Sleeping Beauty – London Palladium
The biggest bang for buck in Pantoland is surely the Palladium. It’s difficult to imagine how they could have spent more money if they’d tried.
No less than 12 beanstalk-like constructions of thorns grew in the act one finale leaving the audience agog at how the technical wizardry was achieved. It’s hard to imagine how the effect was even dreamt up as it takes up so much of the palladium auditorium, roof space and band pit.
Aside from Julian Clarey’s sumptuous costume changes – this year all themed around the idea of ‘King’ Julian, I thought the spinning wheel finger-prick was a moment of brilliant stage design. With sewing bobbins and thread a key design theme throughout the show, the tower scene was set atop an enormous bobbin which rotated downstage revealing a staircase of little bobbins leading up to it.
Jack and the Beanstalk – Exeter Northcott Theatre – by Le Navet Bete and Martin Berry
Clowning theatre company Le Navet Bete created a distinctly South Western affair at Exeter Northcott this Christmas, with plenty of panto mayhem. A properly messy slosh scene which ended up needing the dame’s ‘helper’ from the audience to come and towel-dry her costume.
An interesting take on the story featuring Jack (Al Dunn) and Jill (Jodie Micciché) as brother and sister, and a Plymouth-City-Football-club-supporting flesh creep (Aaron Dart). Plus Molley Cheesely’s Bella the Cow sporting western-style pink fringe designed by the brilliant Katie Haywood.
One of the most innovative elements of the production was a skit in act one where a small hill with a well and pail of water was placed at the top, and only a slidey membrane material standing between Jack, Jill and the pail. The mirroring of the nursery rhyme and physical comedy that ensued was priceless.
Aladdin – Hall for Cornwall – by Edward Rowe and Richard Healey
This proudly Cornish feast was a non-stop adventure through the Aladdin story, but not quite as you know it. Being performed in Truro it was bound to feature distinctly Cornish twists and that it did.
Dawn French makes a voice appearance as the Genie of the lamp, cleverly staged with just some intelligent flashing lights and smoke. Plus a brilliant physical-theatre inspired bow of a ship which sets sail at the end of act one around the world in search of the magical cave.
It is a true joy to witness Rowe’s Cornish maid style dame rule the roost, with plenty of great material for all the principal cast and a special shout out to Hall for Cornwall’s junior ensemble who matched skill with energy and enthusiasm and were integral to the production from start to finish.
Mother Goose – Mercury Theatre, Colchester – by David Phipps Davis
Borrowing from the traditional pantomime setting of Goldilocks, this Mother Goose was set in a touring circus that was set down in Colchester. If you’ve not had the pleasure of experiencing Anthony Stuart-Hicks’ acerbic Dame lovingly berate the audience, it is quite something to behold. Comedy balance is provided by Dale Superville this year celebrating 10 years as a comedy duo with Anthony.
Aside from Jasmine Swan’s creatively textured set and costume designs, there are always some brilliantly funny moments which really stand out in Colchester productions. the use of the two-way mirror in the haunted bedroom is a real treat. But so is circus tower built up to facilitate ever growing golden eggs which Dale birthday hilarious sat atop the tower during a Greatest Showman medley. Only in panto!
Have you seen any stand-out moments this year in professional or amateur productions? I’d love to hear about them. You can get in touch here.
